Job 42:2
in Job 42“I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I know that thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of thine can be restrained.
KJV
I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
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This verse in Job 42
Commentary
11 notes on this verseI know that Thou canst do all things, and that no thought is hid from Thee. 2. For against his huge strength he observed; I know that Thou canst do all things; but against his hidden machinations he subjoined; And no thought is hid from Thee.
This site's exposition
Then Job replied to the LORD
on Job 42:1-3
Job's reply takes up God's charge from 38:2 and turns it into his own confession. Henry sees Job make God's rebuke his own indictment in place of defending his earlier words. Barnes reads the confession as answering Job's demand to audit his suffering, not the suffering itself.
This site's exposition
You can do all things
Job grants what the LORD has shown him, as Wesley reads it, his power to do all things and full knowledge. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add no plan of the LORD can be thwarted, even plans that looked evil to Job. In the end they will be seen as good.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
[Job] openly declares that he had not learned these things before but had come to know the unconquered power of God. And since God penetrates the decisions of people and understands the thoughts of all, there is nobody who can hide from his eye, which …
The Medieval Church1 voice
After the Lord reproved Job for his intemperate speech which seemed to smack of pride because he asserted that he was just so much that it seemed to some people to lead to the derogation of divine justice, Job humbly answers considering himself convinced. First, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Job here owns his judgment convinced of the greatness, glory, and perfection of God, from which would follow the conviction of his conscience concerning his own folly in speaking irreverently to him.
Thou canst, &c. - Job here subscribes to God's unlimited power, knowledge and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced, of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him.
I know that thou canst do every thing,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I know that thou canst do everything - This is said by Job in view of what had been declared by the Almighty in the previous chapters. It is an acknowledgment that God was omnipotent, and that man ought to be submissive, under the putting forth of his infinite power. One great object of the address of the Almighty was to convince Job of his majesty, and that object was fully accomplished. And that no thought - No purpose or plan of thine. God was able to execute all his designs.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Ps 10:2): the ambiguous word is designedly chosen to express that, while to Job's finite view, God's plans seem bad, to the All-wise One they continue unhindered in their development, and will at last be seen to be as good as they are infinitely wise. No evil can emanate from the Parent of good (Jas 1:13, 17); but it is His prerogative to overrule evil to good.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
I know that thou canst do every thing - Thy power is unlimited; thy wisdom infinite.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָ֭דַעְתִּי | yada'ta | I know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֹ֣ל | khol | everything | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| תּוּכָ֑ל | tukhal | you are able | H3201 → | 194 times |
| וְלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִבָּצֵ֖ר | yibatzer | it is withheld | H1219 → | |
| מִמְּךָ֣ | mimekha | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| מְזִמָּֽה׃ | mezimah | a purpose | H4209 → |
יָ֭דַעְתִּיI know
yada'taH3045 →945 times
כִּי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
כֹ֣לeverything
kholH3605 →5413 times
תּוּכָ֑לyou are able
tukhalH3201 →194 times
וְלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִבָּצֵ֖רit is withheld
yibatzerH1219 →
מִמְּךָ֣from you
mimekhaH4480 →1188 times
מְזִמָּֽה׃a purpose
mezimahH4209 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 19:26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:27
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Luke 1:37
For no word from God will ever fail.”
Reached by 4 separate paths from here.
- Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 32:17
“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 18:27
But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
- Jeremiah 32:27
Through
Genesis 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
it leads to
- Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 3:20
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,
- Matthew 19:26
Through
Jeremiah 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
it leads to
- Genesis 18:14
Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
- Genesis 18:14
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 42:1-3 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.